“About I Ate This

Post images of a meal on a plate (or otherwise!) that you ate. Meals you were particularly happy with would be nice. Everyone eats; lets see who eats what! The food must be the primary subject in the shot.

Two notes about this:

- Please show the food, not the wrapper or container of the food. (That is, unless you actually ate the wrapper.)

- Especially keep people's faces and eyes out of the photo, as our attention will inevitably be drawn to them, instead of the dish. (Unless, you ate the face and eyes...Actually, No, We'll None of That!.)

A recent Cincinnati Enquirer headline read, "Smell of baked bread may be health hazard." The article went on to describe the dangers of the smell of baking bread. The main danger, apparently, is that the organic components of this aroma may break down ozone (I'm not making this stuff up).

I was horrified. When are we going to do something about bread- induced global warming? Sure, we attack tobacco companies, but when is the government going to go after Big Bread?

Well, I've done a little research, and what I've discovered should make anyone think twice....

1: More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread eaters.

2: Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

3: In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever and influenza ravaged whole nations.

4: More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.

5: Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!

6: Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low occurrence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and osteoporosis.

7: Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after only two days.

8: Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter and even cold cuts.

9: Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

10: Newborn babies can choke on bread.

11: Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

12: Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

Rose Levy Beranbaum includes recipes, equipment lists. But she also has included some very well written trouble shooting tips --- great for beginners. From a simple 8 inch cake , to 3 or 4 tiered wedding cakes, it is all covered. She combines her years of cake making 'trial and error' to produce a book that benefits both the novice & the baking pro.

I reference the book when ever I have a baking project. It is always somewhere handy!

16 December 2004

So after my little post about feeling "umpa lumpa-ish", I decided to Google the shit. Here are a few links that came up. I picked them to show the array of people using "Umpa Lumpa-isms" or related subject matter.

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You can see the new "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" trailer here, and read some interesting thoughts on the new flick.
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They have an awesome flash animation of an Umpa Lumpa in a MIG flight getup! Just to see the animation is worth clicking on the link...;)

: WELCOME :
You've reached the home web site for Wonka's Umpa Lumpas Mechwarrior 4 Clan. Anyone interested in joining our clan please send and e-mail to =UMPA= Warrior .
We will be happy to meet with you in a game a see how well you play.

: Why be an =UMPA=? :
There is a big difference between our clan and many of the others you may have seen, or even been part of - we only want to have fun! No strict practice regiment, no bumping out clan members because someone 'better' arrived, and no hard feelings! The main reason to be part of a clan is to get together whenever possible and play the game we all enjoy with people that we know. Communication is the key. Every player is better when they know what there teammates are doing and where they are going. Many of us have been in other clans that were obsessed with ranks and scheduled practices - enough is enough - we do have lives. We play to have fun, and having regular teammates means we play and WIN. Think about what you really want out of the clan: Rules, Schedules, Ranks, Work? Not us, we want to relax and enjoy the game and most of all HAVE FUN.

15 December 2004

Written In third person ... as viewed from a haughty, Corporate world dwelling, upper class gent :

IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING -
THE HAIRY ARMS OF
SOME HILL-BILLY TRUCK DRIVER,
HOGGING WHAT LITTLE SPACE
I, HAVE...
IN THE SMOKE FILLED,CRAMPED LIKE SARDINES,
ROOM.
AND THEN
THE ROTTEN STENCH...
OF GREASY STEAKS,
OF GREASY FRIES,
AND OF GREASY MEN WHO HAVEN'T BATHED...
HELL,probably in years.
I SEE THESE GREASY TRASH.
I KNOW THEY ARE MEN...
HIDING BEHIND THOSE SWEATY EXTERIORS
AND THE "BEER GUTS",
THE SAGGING JEANS
EXPOSING THEIR CRACKS.
EVEN BEHIND THE TOOTHLESS GRIN
OF THAT
"SEX-CRAZED BIGOT"
WITH A TOOTHPICK...He may be sick...
BUT I, GUESS
HE still is a man.

11 December 2004

囍 is composed of 2 characters of 喜 (xi), which translates to happiness or joy, therefore, 囍 (shuangxi) literally means double happiness.I think about all the times in my past that were happy, and it is all related to the people I met along the way, who were creatively inclined. Jam sessions and pen & ink fights these were good times. I used to be so passionate about my writing and culinary arts. That all fell through when I got involved in the medical field. There is no room for creativity. Precision, Protocol,regulatory practices. My creativity had been condensed into obligatory matter.

Until now! I will untangled my creativity from the suffocating tentacles of conventional medicine practices -- and emerge a free spirit!